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Gowlland Gatherings

Second Gathering
2007

The second Gowlland Gathering
was held on Wednesday 1 August 2007. There were more than thirty attendees,
including three from America and one from Canada.

The third Gowlland
newsletter, Gowllands United August 2007, was launched, as well as the new DVD
entitled ‘A Gowlland Gallery’. This contains over seventy images of members of
the extended family, the earliest of which date from about 1860.

The family tree was on
display and there was plenty of opportunity for those present to meet with those
most closely connected to them, exchange news, and look at the various
displays.

Also launched was the
transcription of letters referred to in newsletter number 2. This has been
published under the title My dearest Birdie and is a fascinating
collection of some letters sent by Richard Gowlland in England, between 1874 and
1885, to his sister Celia in Australia. The book is now available via the
UK Amazon website, www.amazon.co.uk.

At the end of the day we
enjoyed a slice of the celebration cake and then moved outside so that group
photographs could be taken, like the one below. Many thanks are due to all
those who attended and made sure that we all had such a cheerful and worthwhile
time together.

On Thursday a smaller group
of us visited three churches in southeast Kent, which were all associated with
the early known documented history of the family.

We first visited the tiny
hamlet of Church Hougham near Dover and went into St. Lawrence church. Both the
interior and exterior have been altered during the last two hundred years, but
the Norman doorway at the base of the tower is original. There were several
Gowlland burials here between 1775 and 1823, but the local stone memorial slabs
with inscriptions do not weather well and parts of the churchyard are now very
overgrown, so it was not possible to trace any actual family graves.

Church Hougham - note
how overgrown is the churchyard, demonstrating why no Gowlland graves could be
found.

Then we
adjourned for lunch and were delighted that the researcher for the Random Acts
of Genealogical Kindness, who had made some fascinating discoveries for us in
the Dover area, was able to join us.

The first of
our two visits in the afternoon was to St. Andrew, Buckland by Dover.

Here Joseph
Gowlland was married in 1734 and his eight children were baptised, including
Stephen our direct ancestor. In the 18th century Buckland was
probably also a quiet hamlet, but it is now towards the northern end of the
conurbation of Dover.

Sadly, in
common with many other churches in England, it was locked and we were not able
to see inside. The interior was apparently extensively re-modelled about 150
years ago.

Buckland
in Dover

Our last visit was to St.
Clement church in the ancient Cinque Port of Sandwich. Richard Gowlland married
Sarah Symonds here in 1770. The outside doors date from 1655 and Richard and
Sarah probably walked through them after their wedding. So we stood outside the
same doors for photographs!

St
Clements Sandwich

First Gathering 2004

Pictured
below is the first such Gathering which took place in September
2004.
For enlarged images, click
here.